Guillaume Laflamme

Calumet Island fishing derby raises money for cemetery revitalization

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Over a hundred people spent their Saturday hoping to reel in a catch that might win them first place prize in Groupe L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet’s sixth annual fishing derby.

The fundraising tournament is a competition to see who can catch the heaviest fish in the Pontiac among three divisions for children, teenagers and adults. While the derby’s home base was on Calumet Island, it was open to entries from people fishing across the Pontiac.

The tournament began at the early hour of 7 a.m. and ran until 4 p.m.. The organizing committee stationed itself at the Calumet Island docks all day, serving barbecue hot dogs and hamburgers, and weighing participants’ catches as they came in.

As the derby was nearing its close, over a dozen boats returned from the river to enter their day’s work in the competition.

Guylaine La Salle, one of the organizers with the group, said the fishing derby is one of two fundraising events the Groupe L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet holds every year, along with their annual treasure hunt in the spring. She said the area doesn’t have many community events, and believes the derby is appreciated by the community.

The volunteer community organization has as its mission to highlight the culture, heritage and tourist attractions of Calumet Island.

“We’re pretty lucky, the weather has been very good today. We had a little bit of rain, but nothing serious,” Irène Pieschke, another member of the community group, said in a French interview with THE EQUITY.

Pieschke explained the group’s various community events, specifically the treasure hunt in June, are “about helping people discover the places we have here on the island.”

The group has also been working on a project at an old cemetery in town, which over the last 200 years, has lost some of its tombstones and grave markings. La Salle explained the group has been working on tracking down the cemetery’s lost names since 2018, and that revitalization work began last year.

The group has funded the construction of a gazebo on the grounds, and La Salle said the next step is to build plaques inside with the names of those buried in the cemetery, which means first confirming the names of those buried, which were identified through old church records.

“We really need people to come and confirm what we’ve found,” La Salle told THE EQUITY in French.

“Since 2018, we’ve discovered nearly 1,800 of our ancestors buried in this cemetery, which dates back to the early 1800s.”

According to La Salle, the fishing derby was a success, with over 70 door prizes handed out at the end of the tournament. This year’s winners were Jack Mignault in the kids’ division, Jakob Dumouchel in the teens’, and Danik Laroche in the adults’.

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Mansfield horse owner urges action on vet shortage

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Little Haven Farm in Mansfield is indeed a little haven to a wide range of animals, including alpacas, llamas, guinea hens, goats, chickens, and mini sheep, as well as miniature horses and donkeys, and regular-sized donkeys.
But Garrett Vekeryasz, one of the farm’s owners, says the lack of equestrian veterinarians in the region is making it difficult for him to provide his horses and donkeys with the care they need, and this month he organized a meeting with Pontiac MNA André Fortin to try and find some solutions.
Vekeryasz explained six of his animals – three miniature horses and three donkeys – don’t have access to veterinary care and that he can’t afford the significant costs of individually transporting these animals to see a veterinarian in Ontario.
“We often get calls and requests for adoption and rescues and things like this from varying situations, and we usually turn them away because we have no access to a vet,” Vekeryasz said.
“This past fall, we took a chance, and we rescued a horse, and because we weren’t able to access any vet care, she died within two months of us having her.”
Vekeryasz, like many horse owners in the Pontiac, is frustrated with what has remained a fairly dire shortage of equestrian vets in the region.
He purchased the farm with his partner back in 2019, and began hosting animals in 2020.
“We went into acquiring our animals and getting our animals with the expectation that there was a vet here, and then because of legalities and politics the vets left,” said Vekeryasz, also a teacher at l’École secondaire Sieur de Coulonge. “It’s been very stressful.”
Carole Savard is the secretary for the Pontiac Equestrian Association and owns a horse in Quyon.
“We’ve had a shortage for years in the Pontiac. And north of here, it’s worse,” she wrote to THE EQUITY .
Savard explained the equestrian community was left with no equine veterinary care in the region when Dr. Andrea Kelly passed away in the summer of 2022.
Dr. Kelly was a Kemptville-based veterinarian who was also licensed to practice in Quebec. She owned the Ottawa Valley Large Animal Clinic and served close to 600 clients in the Pontiac and Ottawa surrounding area.
Around the same time, Dr. Melissa Jowett, a part-time vet also serving the Pontiac area, lost her license to practice in Quebec because she was unable to pass a provincial French language test.
A petition circulated at the time to reinstate the license collected more than 3,000 signatures within its first week. It now has more than 13,000 signatures.
After the loss of the two last veterinarians in the region, the Pontiac Equestrian Association called on Dr. Yves Bouvier, an equine veterinarian from L’Ange-Gardien, for help.
According to Savard, Dr. Bouvier was meant to retire four years ago, but returned in 2023 to provide vaccinations for former clients through events organized by the association.
Savard explained that since then, the association has organized group vaccination events with the help of vets from Navan.
But Vekeryasz said his animals haven’t been able to benefit from the services such as these, organized by the Pontiac Equestrian Association, as most Ontario veterinarians only serve the east side of the Pontiac close to Aylmer and Quyon.
He also noted he believes the temporary licenses which are currently allowing Navan vets to practice in the Pontiac are set to expire next year.
It’s for this reason Vekeryasz is hoping virtual vet meetings will become available in the future, something he discussed in his meeting with Fortin, who is also the official opposition’s critic for agriculture.
Vekeryasz explained that through online vet services, veterinarians could diagnose the animal over a Zoom call. Although Vekeryasz admitted the solution would not solve all problems, he explained having access to a veterinarian, even through Zoom, would bring him peace of mind.
“It’s just having that reassurance that if there is an emergency, I have someone that I can contact, and they’re going to be there, they’re going to maybe know the profile of my animal already, to be able to guide me a little bit better,” Vekeryasz said.
Fortin has recognized the problem and stressed the need for government action. In an email to THE EQUITY written in French, Fortin explained the lack of veterinarians, especially for farm animals, is a real problem for the region, and leaves farmers to face difficult situations and impossible decisions.
He said he has been pushing for measures to attract more vets to rural areas and make the profession more appealing to veterinary students, and plans to propose several solutions when the Quebec National Assembly discusses a new animal welfare bill in the fall.
“Upon the return to the Chamber in September, the deputies will study a bill on animal welfare,” Fortin wrote in French. “As the spokesperson for the Quebec Liberal Party on agriculture, I will take the opportunity to propose various solutions to the minister related to the shortage of veterinarians, including measures to improve access that are already in effect in other province.”
The animal welfare bill, which came into effect in February this year, establishes new standards of care for domestic animals in Quebec and affords them rights laid out by the National Farm Animal Care Council.
Vekeryasz said he hopes the discussion of this bill in the National Assembly in the fall will offer a new opportunity to hold the province accountable to ensure farmers in every region have access to the veterinary care they need.
“Hopefully we can write into that bill that, in some fashion, that the government must provide every region access to veterinary care, either through virtual or physical means,” he said. “That’s going to be one of my main pushes for that bill.”

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MRC Pontiac to centralize recycling collection

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume LaFlamme, LJI Reporter

The MRC Pontiac is putting in place a new recycling plan in an effort to streamline the process and make collection across the county more efficient. The initiative has come from the Quebec Government, which in 2022 mandated not-for-profit Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ) to modernize curbside recycling across the province. Through an agreement with EEQ, the MRC aims to centralize recycling contracts and processes for all municipalities within the MRC. THE EQUITY spoke with Kari Richardson, environmental coordinator for the MRC, to gain a deeper understanding of this plan and its benefits. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

Q: What is the MRC’s new plan for recycling?
A: It’s going to be a way to centralize recycling. Right now, our local municipalities are in charge of finding their own recycling contracts. They sign a one-year contract or three-year contract, or however it works out with the company that they’re working with, to either come and pick up their recycling at their municipal site, or do door-to-door collection, or however they deem feasible for their municipality. Depending who the municipality is signed with, it could go to various recycling facilities. What’s going to happen now is the MRC is going to go to tender for the whole of the MRC for all of the municipalities, and then all of our recycling is going to go to the same place, which is Tricentris in Gatineau. So now it’s all going to go to the same facility. That’s why the MRC is doing the one call for tender for all the municipalities and it’ll be the same cost as well for all the municipalities.


Q: How will the recycling be collected?
A: Most of our municipalities who do this door-to-door are doing it in-house, so it’s their municipal workers that do it. […] What happens is the municipalities are going to get refunded for anything related to recycling costs. So their door-to-door collection, their activity fees for the tonnage, that will all get reimbursed. So it’s just going to funnel through the MRC. […] They’ll be able to maybe have a more collective situation where [recycling] can be collected somewhere first. We don’t know how that’s going to look. It depends on who’s going to bid, but it could be that there’s another transfer station that collects and then it’s transported.

Q: What are the benefits of centralizing recycling collection?
A: Hopefully there’ll be a reduction in transportation costs and emissions. Another benefit is there’s going to be more things that are reimbursed, like municipalities are going to be paid for all of their recycling processes. They used to just get a rebate for the tonnage that they eliminated, but now, like I said, any of their costs related to recycling are going to be compensated [by EEQ]. So the cost of bins, the cost of the door-to-door collection by their workers, all of the things related to recycling are going to be reimbursed.


Q: How long has the MRC been planning for regional level recycling?
A: We actually had to sign a contract with EEQ for June. And now the next thing we’re doing is trying to put together this tender so we can get that out. What happens is there’s a new regulation. It’s a modernization of the collective regime that came into effect, and then with that, EEQ was the mandated body to oversee that. I think they gave some leeway for municipalities that had longer-term recycling contracts. But then we also informed municipalities that those who had contracts running out, we said “make sure the next contract that you signed is going to be finished by Dec. 2024,” because then we’re going to be in the position where our new collective contract will be starting in January 2025.

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Cushman Memorial holds first service of the summer

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Cottagers from the Norway Bay community packed into the Cushman Memorial Hall on Sunday evening for its first service of the summer.
For over one hundred years, the community has gathered at the hall from the first Sunday in July to the last Sunday in August, making these services a central part of their summer traditions.
Nancy York, the chair of the board of trustees for Cushman Memorial Hall, emphasized the importance of these services to the community.
“It’s part of the summer spirit of Norway Bay,” York said.
Tom Healey, a former resident of Norway Bay and musician, has been involved for nearly a quarter of the century this tradition has been happening.
“We were asked a while back to add some music to the service,” Healey said.
Over the years, Healey and his group, Thursday Morning, have performed bluegrass, gospel, and other music at each year’s opening service. Even though he no longer lives in the community, Healey returns every summer, driven by his love for music and the sense of belonging Norway Bay offers.
“It’s like coming home for a few hours,” he said.
According to Healey, the joy of playing and seeing the crowd engage with the music is its own reward, making it one of the easiest and most fulfilling gigs for the group.
“Gospel music is simple to play, and when people sing it, it energizes you on stage,” he shared.
Healey explained that the band has evolved over the years. In 2013, its banjo player passed away, and since then, Healey has stepped into the role when needed. But on Sunday evening, the group was joined by guest banjo player and THE EQUITY reporter, K.C. Jordan for the closing song, Sin and Redemption.
York said the non-denominational church services play a crucial role in bringing the community together.
The land for the hall was donated over a hundred years ago with the condition that it be used only for church purposes, showing the importance of faith in the community’s history.
Each service is a mix of hymns, sermons, with significant contributions from the congregation.
“There’s a short sermon and hymns, most of it is based around hymns and the congregation calls out the hymn numbers,” York said.
According to York, the summer services at Cushman Memorial Hall are more than just religious gatherings; they are a celebration of community and a century-long tradition.

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Campbell’s Bay receives $70,000 grant for downtown core revitalization

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

The Municipality of Campbell’s Bay has received a $70,000 grant from the Quebec government to revitalize its downtown core in an effort to make the town more resilient to climate change.
The grant is made available through a new program called OASIS, offered by Quebec’s environment ministry. The program is dedicated to supporting greenery projects focused on reducing the impact of heat waves and torrential rains on lived environments.
According to the ministry, these weather phenomena are becoming increasingly frequent as a result of climate change.
Sarah Bertrand, director general for Campbell’s Bay, said the municipality has partnered with an Outaouais environmental association, the Conseil régional de l’environnement et du développement durable de l’Outaouais (CREDDO), to map out what it can do to combat the effects of climate change and reduce the impact of what are known as urban heat islands.
“Through the CREDDO, we will have access to urban planners and professional services to help us determine the problems, analyze the risks and come up with a plan that will tell us how we should go about reducing these heat islands,” Bertrand said.
Myriam Gemme, a climate change adaptation project coordinator with CREDDO, explained that urban heat islands are areas containing dense infrastructure, such as paved roads and brick buildings which are prone to retaining heat from the sun and increasing the ambient temperature.

“When you walk in a city where the streets are very large and you don’t see many trees around, those places are even hotter than other spaces like forests,” Gemme said.
“We work essentially in greening projects, so tree planting in urban areas, and also adaptation to floods. Some zones in the Outaouais are more likely to have floods. So we also work with those communities to help them prepare and adapt for the future.”
Bertrand said Campbell’s Bay had hoped to collaborate with other municipalities on the project to capitalize on the maximum of $2 million in funding available for the first phase of the project, but was the only municipality in the region to apply for it.
The OASIS program operates over three phases of funding. The municipality will use this first phase of money to analyze how heat and heavy rainfall affect the town’s village core, and develop adaptation plans.
According to documents provided to THE EQUITY by the Municipality of Campbell’s Bay, the official objectives for the project are to combat heat islands and the effects of heavy precipitation in the Campbell’s Bay village core, improve residents’ quality of life, and revitalize the village core to increase its attractiveness.

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Fort Coulonge fills the streets

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Families from all over the Pontiac were invited to downtown Fort Coulonge on Saturday for the town’s annual street festival – Village en fête.
The event, organized by Fort Coulonge, is a celebration of the start of the festival season for the region.
The town’s Bryson Street was filled with all sorts of attractions, including a touch-a-truck, inflatable obstacle courses, pizza, face-painting and even helicopter tours over the Fort Coulonge area.
“It’s a community celebration every year around this time. Normally, it’s Father’s Day weekend, but we had pushed it up for this weekend,” said Claudee Galipeau, who has been organizing the event for the last seven years.
“We always say the initial Village en fête event is sort of a ‘summer’s here and we’re kicking it off.’”
Galipeau explained that the event is both a chance for the local community to enjoy their afternoon, and also an opportunity to bring business to the downtown core of Fort Coulonge.
“The original mandate was that it would help the businesses within the downtown core,” Galipeau said. “And then it just cauliflowered into this big town celebration.”
The helicopter tours, provided by a Montreal-based helicopter school and tour agency, were one of the biggest attractions at the festival.
“The view is beautiful, I’m doing it again tonight,” said Fort Coulonge mayor Christine Francoeur. “It’s going to be my second time. Every time I come I bring my grandchildren with me.”
Francoeur explained the spring festival has been around for more than a decade, and serves as a thank you to the community for supporting local businesses, as well as a chance to expose the local community to some of the many amenities the Pontiac has to offer.
“I think the parents appreciate it because they can have so many activities and they’re free,” Francoeur said. “It’s a bit of a rainy day [ . . . ] But we can’t control the weather. But still, people are still showing up with their umbrellas.”

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Bryson cleans house

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

The town of Bryson held its annual community yard sale event on Saturday, organized by the town’s municipality.
Throughout the town, tables could be seen spread across driveways and front lawns as community members attempted to get rid of unwanted items that may have surfaced during spring cleaning, in exchange for a few dollars.
Lynette Harris was one of the people participating in the yard sale. She is trying to downsize and was getting rid of some of her grandchildren’s toys and books, her husband’s golf balls, paintings and a collection of aloe vera plants she had accumulated.
“It’s not just necessarily my stuff. It’s my children’s stuff and my grandchildren’s stuff,” Harris said. “My daughter lives in the city, and she can’t have a yard sale in her apartment building, so she gives me her stuff to sell.”
Another vendor, Sylvain LaSalle, travelled from Gatineau to his parents’ home in Bryson to help them sell some of the belongings they no longer needed in their old age. This was his third year using the yard sale to help his parents declutter.
“There’s things that I said would never sell, but they did,” LaSalle said, surprised.
The event also featured free trees being handed out at the Bryson Municipal Hall. Joanne Ralston, council member for Bryson, was handing out yellow birch and sugar maple saplings in celebration of tree and forest day, as well as informational pamphlets on a variety of topics related to the environment.
“We’re putting out information regarding recycling, composting, waste management, and turtles here,” Ralston said. “We all know that environmental issues are even more in the media right now.”

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Quyon’s Barbotte Supper makes a comeback

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Quyon locals enjoyed a feast of barbotte and homemade french fries for the first time in 15 years on Thursday evening, celebrating the return of the the Quyon Legion’s Barbotte Supper tradition.
The sold out event, last held in 2009, saw 120 pounds of potatoes and over 130 pounds of barbotte, otherwise known as brown bullhead catfish, seasoned, fried and served to the community.
The Legion hall was bustling with people sitting down to enjoy some freshly fried fish and chips, with dozens of people lined up at the serving table, waiting for the trays of barbotte as they cycled through the back door.
Volunteers were put to work behind the Legion hall, with nine people working non-stop to fry dozens of pounds of fish at a time, while piles of sliced potatoes sat in large blue bins, waiting their turn in the deep fryer.
When the freshly prepared food finally hit the serving table, the team had to scramble to keep the supplies stocked as hungry and nostalgic attendees filled their plates.
Vicky Leach, one of the organizers for the event, said she was happy to see the return of the traditional supper, which has been frequently requested by people from the region over the years
“We’ve had people asking us ‘When are you doing it?’ So this year, we finally decided that we were going to go ahead and put it on,” Leach said.
Leach explained that putting on the event involved a massive team effort from the volunteers, recounting how eight people spent the day prior to the event preparing all the fish and slicing the potatoes..
“They used to get anywhere between 250 to 300 pounds of barbotte for the supper. We don’t quite have that much this year, but this is our first time too,” Leach said.
People attending the event could choose to order the fish and fries for take-out, or dine-in at the Legion hall. Leach believes the event was also a chance to bring new members to the town’s Legion.
Darlene Morris is a member of the Quyon Legion and was one of the people who has been patiently awaiting the return of the town tradition.
Morris’ parents used to own a chip wagon in Quyon and would prepare all of the fish and potatoes to be served at the feast.
“It was through the fishing game club in Quyon [ . . . ] They would get all the barbotte supper arranged and my parents would come in with the chip wagon and cook everything for them,” Morris said.
Morris explained that despite the popularity of the Barbotte Supper, her parents sold the chip wagon in 2009. Combined with the closing of the Quyon fish and game club, the event didn’t make its comeback until last week.
With the initial success of the first Barbotte Supper, the Quyon Legion hopes the event will make a return next year.

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Building potted bouquets for Mother’s Day

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Children and their parents gathered at the Shawville Community Lodge on Thursday to build a potted floral arrangement for their mothers and learn about gardening in the process.
The event was organized by The Parents’ Voice and was hosted by Lindsay Hamilton, a longtime gardener and owner of the Homegrown Garden Center in Quyon.
“I wanted them to get a little dirty,” Hamilton said. “Plus, I wanted them to be able to get a little bit creative. Pick out a plant that maybe is of interest to them and have fun picking out the different plants and how they go . . .

together, the different colours that can go together and shapes and textures.”
Hamilton used the activity of potting a flower arrangement as an opportunity to teach the kids about soil and its components, as well as about plant structure, and the role the plant’s roots play in its overall health.
“I try to throw in a lot of education on how to actually build a beautiful planter so that the moms and the dads can take a little bit of knowledge home with them as well,” Hamilton said.
Emily McCann attended the workshop with her daughter, Ruby-Ann Fraser. With the help of Hamilton, Fraser built a potted floral arrangement of black and purple flowers, which she said are her favourite colours.
McCann believes the event was educational for both the kids and the parents.
“I know Lindsay really well, and when I saw that she was doing this for the kids, I thought it was a great opportunity,” McCann said. “She’s so great with kids. It’s amazing how she can explain things to a six-year-old so that it makes sense and makes it fun. She’s really good at what she does.”
Hamilton, whose family owns Mountainview Turf Farm, explained she became passionate about gardening when she was in university studying turfgrass science. On the weekends, she would volunteer at the campus greenhouses, tending to the plants.
After graduating, she returned to the family farm, and began building her gardening business. “I applaud The Parents’ Voice for coming up with it [the workshop]. Truthfully it was completely their idea and their initiative, and I’m just happy to be a part of it and be able to contribute to it,” Hamilton said.
“We thought that with the weather coming around, we would really like to give kids an opportunity to create something fun as a potential gift for Mother’s Day,” said Shelley Heaphy, committee member for The Parents’ Voice.
“We think it’s pretty amazing how she’s developed this side of her business, and we were happy to support it,” Heaphy said.

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Drag Queens take the stage in Fort Coulonge

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Drag queens brought high fashion and flair to Café Downtown in Fort Coulonge on Saturday evening, with performances including dance numbers and lip syncing to songs by popular pop artists like Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga.
The three-hour show was hosted by drag queen Maddie Longlegs along with DJ Martin Leguerrier and featured performances from Ottawa’s Miss Capital Pride winner Devona Coe, Canada’s Drag Race contestant Aimee Yoncé Shennel and rising star Bae Root.
Maddie Longlegs, known offstage as Matthew Armour, was happy to see such a positive reception from the community. “The energy’s really good,” Armour said. “I haven’t had one show in the cafe where the energy hasn’t been high.”
Armour said he has always been an entertainer, explaining that being able to go on stage and be free with people who are loving and supporting means a lot.
“It’s art,” said Armour, who lives in Gatineau but hails from Fort Coulounge. “I’m usually not like this. Outside in real life I usually have a beard and I’m very masculine. And to be able to transform myself into a performer. It’s very, very uplifting.”
Armour said the shows are meant to provide a safe and inclusive space where everyone can be themselves.
Natasha Lamadeleine, who co-owns the bar with her husband Alexandre Romain, believes the event offered a nice change of pace for the region.
“We needed something new, something diverse,” Lamadeleine said. “I think it’s perfect for people to have a safe space.”
Event attendee Annie Graveline, while not a drag performer herself, noted the importance for people to have a space in the community.
“It means that people leave their stereotypes at home and just come and encourage people to be themselves,” said Graveline. “I’m not a drag queen, but I love to dance. So these people really relate to me.”
During the show, Armour encouraged people who might be less familiar, or perhaps uncomfortable with drag performance to refrain from putting up barriers and instead maintain open dialogue.
“Talk about it. Ask all those questions and then after if you still feel indifferent about them that’s on you,” Armour said. “We all want to be loved and accepted.”

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Warm, dry spring brings bushfires to Bristol, Pontiac

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Firefighters in the municipalities of Bristol and Pontiac responded to a seasonally high number of bushfires in the last week of March and first few days of April, attributable to the unusually warm and dry conditions the region experienced in what has been a relatively early spring.
Mario Allen, director general for the Municipality of Pontiac, said the fire department responded to 10 bushfires over the course of that period, including a fairly large fire that broke out on Cain Line, just off Lac-des-Loups Road.
“We were lucky to have the help of Bristol and La Pêche,” Allen said. “That way we were able to protect the big forest right beside it. Without them we could have ended up losing many acres of forest.”
Allen said firefighters from the three municipalities worked mid-afternoon until 11 p.m. on Apr. 2 to put out the fire that was, at its largest, 4-5 acres large.
Allen said there were also several smaller grass and bush fires that had to be put out in his municipality, many over the Easter long weekend when people cleaning up their yards and burning leaves and old branches lost control of the burn.
“It was quite a few years that we didn’t have so many as we’ve had in the last two weeks,” Allen said, attributing the unusually early fire season to prime conditions created by a lack of precipitation combined with a surplus of dead, dry vegetation covering the ground.
“We were about to send out an advertisement saying no burning but the snow came on Thursday and that solved a lot of the problem.”
Alex Mahon, who has been a firefighter for Bristol for five years and is currently completing his officer course, said the warm spring has forced a running start.
“The first week was pretty full. But last weekend, it was bad for us,” Mahon told THE EQUITY, following the Easter long-weekend, noting the department responded to three bush fires, two in Bristol on Mar. 31, and the big one on Cain Line the following Tuesday.
As a result, the Bristol Fire Department has stopped giving out burn permits and has enacted a burn ban for the municipality due to the dry weather. The department is discouraging people from burning things outside until the conditions improve.
Mahon said the snow last week made a small difference, but did not bring enough moisture for the department to cancel the ban.
“If you look outside now, you never would have even known it snowed,” Mahon said.
“We’re still being very cautious until the grass starts getting greener and the conditions become less dangerous.”
Season’s forecast
Mélanie Morin, information officer for SOPFEU, Quebec’s wildifre prevention agency, explained that the season has been off to an early start with 13 fires in the Outaouais region over the last three weeks that have burnt 6.6 hectares collectively.
“So far there’s been less snow in southern Quebec than there has been in usual years.” Morin said. “So we are ready and expecting […] a more early start to the season.”
Although the weather is dryer than usual, Morin said that the severity of the wildfire season is a challenge, and the most important part is being prepared for any situation.
“Other than a few days out, we can’t see how the season is going to be like. Our main mission is to be ready for no matter the type of season that we get,” Morin explained. “Kind of like every other emergency service, you have to be ready to face all. And then if it’s quiet, all the better. And if it’s not, then we’re there to respond.”
Morin reminded people planning to have outdoor fires to check the fire danger rating, to check in with local municipalities on the requirements for fire permits, and remain cautious with fire use.

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Ducks raced and eggs were hunted at Pontiac Lions Club Easter

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Five hundred colourful rubber ducks drifted down a small stream in Campbell’s Bay on Saturday afternoon as invested onlookers cheered for the plastic bath toy they had paid to enter in the second annual Pontiac Lions Club duck race.

The race followed a competitive easter egg hunt in which over 50 children and their families participated.
“It’s nice to get the people out there, and especially for the kids, they enjoy it. It’s mostly for the kids,” said Pontiac Lions Club president Terry Frost.

Last year, the first for the Easter event, only 250 ducks competed in the race. This year Frost believed there was potential to grow the race, and decided to double the number of contestants.
After a short five minutes of suspense as the ducks slowly floated towards the finish line, Mike Kavanagh’s duck won the race, followed by Cindy Ireland’s in second place, and Chris Bacuzzi’s in third.
Debbie Frost, the secretary of the Lions Club, elaborated on the event’s dual purpose, explaining that the event was both to fundraise for community needs and to bring people together after the winter season.

“It’s a big fundraiser for us. We also do an Easter time for the kids. They look for eggs, and whoever finds the golden egg gets a big basket of something,” Frost said
Corey Morrison was the lucky egg hunter to find the prized golden egg.
William Ladouceur, one of the people participating at the event, saw the race as a chance to get together with the community.

“You walk around and you don’t see people, you don’t see too much. And so it’s nice when we can all kind of get together and it’s definitely a lot more people than I thought there was going to be.”
For Rebekka Ladouceur, the event was a chance to get out and support the local community.
“I moved to Fort Coulonge a year and a half ago, and I just wanted to do more of the local activities and kind of support the local organizations,” she said.
Debbie Frost said the funds raised by the event will support local organizations and individuals in need, providing essentials like education bursaries and medical equipment.

Ducks raced and eggs were hunted at Pontiac Lions Club Easter Read More »

Ladysmith trivia night first event from new recreation committee

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Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Dozens of trivia enthusiasts packed into the Thorne Community Recreation Association on Wednesday evening for a trivia night fundraising event hosted by Thorne municipality’s newly formed Ladysmith Recreation Committee.

Teams of five to six players competed in two hours of questions covering 10 different topics, written and delivered by Greg Atkinson, who himself grew up in the Ladysmith area.
“I probably enjoy preparing the questions as much as the audience enjoys answering them,” Atkinson said.
The Clan Davies team, which consisted of Terry Davies, Muriel Davies, Jennifer Davies, Sharon Davies and Karen Davies, won the first place prize.

The event was the first to be organized by the volunteer committee, which was created at the request of the municipality with the mandate to organize activities for Ladysmith residents of all ages.
The committee’s goal was to raise money to be used for hosting future community events, including Thorne’s Canada Day celebrations.

One of the committee’s members, Terri-Lyn Blaskie said volunteering for the committee offered her a chance to give back to the community she grew up in.
“We grew up here as kids and our parents were on the committee back when we were little kids,” Blaskie said. “Our moms did it, and now we’re doing it.”

A handful of local businesses donated door prizes and prizes for trivia winners. The sponsors for the evening were Bretzlaff’s convenience store, Shawville’s Giant Tiger, WePC, Shawville’s UniPrix pharmacy, W.A. Hodgins Home Hardware, Stedmans V&S, Hotel Ladysmith, Renfrew No Frills and Pontiac Home Bakery.
The event was a success according to Monique Atkinson, one of the members of the newly formed recreation committee.

Ladysmith trivia night first event from new recreation committee Read More »

Municipality of Pontiac seeks public input on park revitalization project

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Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

The Municipality of Pontiac held a series of community consultation sessions over the weekend to gather input from residents of all ages about how the parks in Quyon and Luskville should be improved.
This was one of the first steps in the municipality’s plan to revitalize its parks in both communities, a project which is anticipated to take several years.

“The purpose of the exercise was to survey the population regarding their current experience of the parks,” said Nathalie Larose, recreation coordinator for the municipality.
The municipality plans on gathering further public feedback by way of a survey, which will be available in May. Survey questions will aim to build on comments received during last weekend’s meetings.
The municipality hopes to apply for a grant for the revitalization project from Loisir sport Outaouais, representatives of which were also present at the meetings.
Despite the potential for additional funding, Larose said securing grants can take time, and that for now the project will be financed with public funds.
Long-time Quyon resident Laura Stewart has been bringing her kids to activities in the town’s park for years.

She attended the consultation event on Saturday because she believes that the Quyon park is a staple of the community, and desperately needs to be upgraded.
“The Quyon park is a diamond in the rough,” she said. “The potential for it is endless with proper management.”

Stewart said she thought improvements could be made to the softball field, which she believes has been a “backbone in the community forever”, as well as to the dugouts where the teams hang out when not up to bat, and to the bathroom facilities.
She noted that Saturday’s discussion also touched on the possibility of introducing a camping section along the Quyon waterfront, an idea that has been discussed since the area was damaged by a recent spring flood. The municipality has hired the firm A4 Architecture to develop a project based on community’s feedback.

Municipality of Pontiac seeks public input on park revitalization project Read More »

Flying Elbows hockey tournament celebrates 25 years

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

The Flying Elbows Hockey Tournament returned to the Shawville arena last week for its 25th year of bringing together hockey players from across the greater Pontiac community.
What started as a small memorial for the beloved coach James A. Smith in 1999 has since grown into a three-day, 18-team tournament, which sometimes brings in players from as far as Calgary and Montreal.
This year, after three days of fierce competition between the tournament’s 18 teams, the Danford Lakers team beat the O’Brien team to take home the James A. Smith memorial trophy and the bragging rights for the A bracket, winning the finals in a 2-0 shutout.

The Benders were the victors of the B bracket against the Puck Pirates, winning the Bryan Murray trophy.
Will Armitage has been organizing the fundraising event for the last eight years. “It started with a group of guys . . . and now, here we are today,” Armitage said. “It’s kind of a fundraiser. Whatever we can raise, it’s going to go towards arena upgrades and different things like that.”

The tournament plays an important role in helping the local community, both economically and socially. “It’s a big thing for the community,” Armitage said, “It helps restaurants and the town and everything like that.”
For players like Matthew Dandy, who has made the journey to Shawville for the tournament since 2006, the event serves as a reunion of sorts, bringing together old friends and reigniting a shared passion for hockey.
“You’ve got to appreciate the guys that put it together. If you don’t have them, you don’t have a tournament,” Dandy said. “A lot of us don’t play anymore, and it’s our once-a-year hockey for the year so it means a lot for them to organise it.

The event included live entertainment and refreshments in the Lions Club hall above the rink to keep the players’ spirits up while the tournament took place.
Valley Mountain Band, featuring Rory and Julia Mayhew, kept the Lion’s hall entertained during the tournament’s final games on Saturday night.

“I love getting to play in Shawville because I’m from here,” Rory Mayhew said.
“We’re primarily a country band, so in the city we play more rock and stuff like that, so we kind of push to play out this way a little bit more, so we can play more country music.”
For this year, Armitage expects the money raised will be used to upgrade the arena’s water and plumbing systems.

In previous years, the tournament fundraiser has helped purchase new boards as well as a new score clock for the arena.

Flying Elbows hockey tournament celebrates 25 years Read More »

Jiu-jitsu classes now available in Shawville

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guilaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

A long-time martial arts practitioner has begun offering Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes in Shawville for children and adults.
Travis Neumann, founder of Shawville Martial Arts, is leading the classes hosted at Pontiac High School on Tuesday evenings.
He said the program aims to promote confidence building, discipline and self-defence skills while helping participants stay active.

“It’s a passion of mine that I want to share with the community,” Neumann said.
The program offers three different classes separated into groups by age.
The first class, which starts at 5:30 p.m. for children between the ages of six and eight, and the second class that starts an hour later for children nine to 12 both use game-based learning to help promote physical activity.

The program also offers a class for adults from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m..
“I’m really hoping to work on fitness, confidence and giving them some basic jiu-jitsu skills, for fun, for competition and for self-defence,” Neumann explained. “With the older groups, it’s going to be a little bit less focused on game-based learning and a little bit more technique-based.”
Robin Huckabone has been attending the adult class for the last three weeks. She signed up for classes after seeing a Facebook post promoting the program.
“I really like it [ . . . ] It’s something I look forward to, just to keep everybody active. It’s a good price and it’s really close to home,” Huckabone said.

April Dubeau, a mother of three and a former practitioner of martial arts, was looking for a local program to enrol her kids in when she also saw a Facebook post about the classes. She believes the program will give her children positive skills to help them navigate conflict.
“I just felt like it instils discipline and good values and knowing when you should fight, when you should not fight, protecting yourself and stuff,” Dubeau said.

Jason Smith, a martial artist with 20 years of experience and Neumann’s instructor from Renfrew Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, is helping Neumann lead the classes at Pontiac High School.
He said he hopes the classes will help students deal with adversity.
“You’re going to run into problems and sometimes that problem isn’t going to go away. And they learn resilience. They learn how to think through problems,” Smith said.
According to Smith, Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art that was developed by a family in Brazil in the early 1900s.

He said the Gracie family was introduced to Japanese jiu-jitsu and judo by a travelling martial artist, but Hélio Gracie, a member of the family, had health issues preventing him from being able to train effectively.
“He didn’t have the strength. So he developed a ground fighting system, which is what essentially Brazilian jiu-jitsu is,” Smith said. “It teaches a smaller person to use leverage to get out from underneath a bigger person.”
With growing interest in the program from the community, Neumann hopes to expand his program to offer more classes throughout the week.

Jiu-jitsu classes now available in Shawville Read More »

Shawville visits Ireland for an afternoon

Local Journalism Initiative / / / ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

Over 70 people enjoyed a virtual tour of Ireland to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on Saturday at the Shawville Anglican Church hall.
The event saw Jim Beattie, a musician originally from Ireland, guide people through a virtual tour of the country through a slideshow of hundreds of photographs.
The tour was accompanied by Irish songs performed live by Beattie himself.
“I used to go and just sing Irish songs, but I found that if I show pictures, the people find it a bit more meaningful if they can see the scenery and see what’s going on,” Beattie said.
Beattie took people through a digital tour of the country’s cities and notable landmarks, including a visit to the Jameson Distillery in Dublin and the Cliffs of Moher. His tour also included historical information about the locations, with some humorous commentary thrown in here and there.

“The Cliffs of Moher: They’re straight up out of the Atlantic Ocean for 700 feet. And there’s a little walkway right around the top of the cliff. And they do advise you not to go there on a windy day, it’d be a long way down,” Beattie said as the crowd laughed.
Once the tour was concluded, attendees were treated to an authentic Irish lunch, which featured an Irish stew with bread, and a variety of pies for dessert.
Much of the food was donated by people attending the event, and the meat for the stew was purchased locally from Starborn farms.

“It’s wonderful for the community,” said Jeannie Judd, a member of the Anglican Young Women’s Association (AYWA) and a volunteer at the event. “All the pies are donated, all the vegetables are donated. Even the bread is donated. It takes a lot to make stew.”
Jane Hayes, one of the organizers for the event, was happy to see so many people attend. “People are anxious to get out again after the last couple of years. We’re really pleased with the turnout,” Hayes said. “Nowadays people have changed their attitude about going out.”

Hayes explains this is the third virtual tour the AYWA has organized over the last five years with one in 2019 and 2020, visiting both Scotland and Ireland.
Proceeds from the event will be collected by the AYWA and donated to the Shawville Anglican Church at the end of the year.

Shawville visits Ireland for an afternoon Read More »

Parents should update vaccine records as measles cases rise, CISSSO says

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

Guillaume Laflamme, LJI Reporter

The infectious disease specialist with the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) is requesting parents in Western Quebec update their childrens’ vaccination records to help public health authorities gain a better sense of vaccination rates in the region as measles cases rise in the province.

Since the beginning of 2024, Quebec has logged 12 cases of the highly infectious disease. Nine of those cases have been in Montreal. In 2023, Canada reported a total of 12 cases across the country.
As case numbers rise in Canada, and around the world, experts are reminding everyone to check their vaccinations against the disease and update them if necessary.
“It’s very, very contagious,” said Dr. Carol McConnery, infectious disease specialist with CISSS de l’Outaouais, explaining that a single case in a school is considered an outbreak because of how quickly the virus spreads.

She said that while at this time there are no confirmed cases in the Outaouais, that could change quickly.
Dr. McConnery explained that vaccination rates for measles in the province of Quebec are not at 95 per cent, which is the recommended coverage rate according to the Government of Canada’s website.
“We know that our coverage [across the province] is not at 95 per cent. So, although we’re saying it’s only 12 cases, that can go up really rapidly.”

Dr. McConnery said average vaccine coverage for schools in the Outaouais area is about 85 per cent.
“[The] CISSS de l’Outaouais with the public health department, the CLSC and the vaccination center is being mobilized as we speak to organize some vaccinations that will take place in some schools in the next week.”

According to Dr. McConnery, a lot of children in the Western Quebec region have received their vaccines in Ontario but have not updated their vaccination records in Quebec, causing difficulties in calculating vaccination rates.

“I’m asking parents who have had their immunization in Ontario and have the records [to go] to the CLSC and have their measles vaccine and all the vaccines registered into the Quebec registry.”
According to the Government of Quebec’s website, measles is a serious and highly contagious airborne disease which spreads when an infected person breathes, coughs, sneezes, or speaks.
It remains a major cause of death among children globally but has a safe and effective vaccine available.
According to Dr. McConnery, there is a triad of symptoms to look for when checking for measles: a high fever, a cough, and a rash that usually starts in the face and rapidly spreads to the rest of the body.
She said that although the measles virus can cause severe disease, it can also cause other health complications including pneumonia.

The measles vaccine is a combination vaccine, providing protection against multiple diseases simultaneously. The vaccine’s components vary based on the individual’s age.
As per Quebec’s immunization schedule, children should receive the vaccine at 12 and 18 months. Measles cases in the country have been reduced by 97 per cent since Canada’s introduction of free vaccinations.

Parents should update vaccine records as measles cases rise, CISSSO says Read More »

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